CD Reviews

Child of the 50's

SirGeorgeMartini | Chihuahua Legs, Wyoming | 06/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Robert Klein has not received the recognition he deserves, but at least Jerry Seinfeld has cited him as a one of his influences. Many of his routines are of their time, but they still are still funny and I think they have aged better than most of his peer's material (especially Woody Allen's albums). Although I've seen many skits based on "The Final Record Offer", Klein's performance is still the best. "In Praise Of The Harmonica" has one of the most creative uses of the harmonica ever recorded. "

World's Funniest Record Of All time

Lance Drake | Santa Fe, NM United States | 11/20/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Please excuse the hyperbole - but this series of Klein's comedic writing is, to my taste, the funniest stuff ever conceived. 'Juergen's Myasthenia', '100% undetectable hairpiece', 'Ever Record Ever Recorded' EVERY BIT on the album 'The None News News' - EVERYTHING IS ABSOLUTELY CLASSIC! I laugh every time I hear this work. Robert Klein has more wacky, kooky, zany, stuff crammed into this album than ANY other comedian... EVER... on any other album. THIS IS TRULY WHAT HUMOR IS ALL ABOUT... Sorry for the shouting - but I'll never hear anything else as funny, as long as I live. God bless Robert Klein - he is the greatest of all time."

More dated than "Child of the 50's" -- but still funny

Anne M. Marble | MD, USA | 06/26/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album didn't age as well as "Child of the 50's." But that didn't stop it from being funny. My nephew, who was born about ten years after Watergate, still laughed at most of the tracks. And even my _mother_ laughed at "Obligatory Drug Bit: First Time Stoned." Also, I still think of Robert Klein's ine "Shovel please!" every time I read (or write) B.S.Besides, the song "Mind Over Matter" is one of my favorite Robert Klein songs ever. Anybody who had to cope with being outside of the "in" crowd in school will appreciate this one.Anne M. Marble -- Reviewer, All About Romance"

Eine Kleine Nacht Club

Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 04/09/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Stand-up comic Robert Klein's first appearance on vinyl was in the cast of a Kenny Solms & Gail Parent LP called I WERE A HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE. Also debuting on that 1965 album was Joan Rivers (as a teenager named Bambi 'the Frog' Levine).

After leaving Yale Drama School in the early '60s, Klein's Show Biz career began with Chicago's SECOND CITY improv group. He and Fred Willard auditioned on the same day; both were accepted. The now-forgotten Solms/Parent disc was next, then a few film roles followed by the release of his most famous album, CHILD OF THE FIFTIES (1972). In the over 3½ decades since Robert Klein waxed MIND OVER MATTER, he's had a fairly steady movie and TV career, and has also hosted eight HBO specials. At the time of this review he'd finished work on National Lampoon's DIRTY MOVIE.

This Warner/Rhino reissue of "Mind Over Matter" opens with a parody of a one-minute TV ad that flooded the NY Tri-State area in the early 1970s. In it, an elderly fellow pitches a set of classical music highlight LPs as a dozen familiar strains parade in the background over a contents scroll. Klein's amusing angle is "every record ever recorded" including Gregorian chants and Yshabba Ganoush No.1 and No.2. Our final track is the title song. Among other topics in-between are Watergate humor, a PSA for a rare disease in which "the nose mysteriously slides off" and a Ted Mack's Amateur Hour spoof. (Klein appeared as a grade-schooler on that program, singing "Sunday Kind Of Love.")

SIDE TWO[4:18] Test on This[0:52] Graffiti[1:20] No News News (Milton Lewis)[6:36] Wallowing in Watergate[3:50] Greed & Jeopardy[2:12] The Ted Mack Amateur Hour[2:48] In Praise of the Harmonica[0:19] Obligatory Drug Bit: First Time Stoned[4:32] Mind Over Matter

TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 53:33"

Yeah it is moldy, but still funny.

JOHN GODFREY | Milwaukee ,WI USA | 05/04/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"He is one of the best stand-ups of all time. If you lived his bits they are probably a lot funnier. But the National Anthem, First Time Stoned & Final Record Offer still are relevant. Watergate was & still is Hilarious."